PIA Press ReleaseSaturday, January 14, 2012

School to celebrate Chinese New Year

by April M. Montes

DAGUPAN CITY, Jan. 14 (PIA) –- As the year of the dragon kicks-off 2012 with a bang, the Divine Word Academy of Dagupan (DWAD), a Filipino-Chinese school here, will hold its own celebration of the Chinese New Year slated on January 20.

DWAD observes the said festivity as early as the 20th of January since the 23rd, which is the actual date of the fest, was declared as a special non-working day in the country.

The affair will begin with a thanksgiving mass at the St. Therese Parish Church at 7:30 a.m. to be presided by Rev. Fr. Edsel Demillo, SVD, the school director.

After the Eucharistic celebration, a program will follow at the Schmitz Hall, the school’s gym, at 9:30 a.m. Co Heng Wue, the Chinese Department coordinator, will give the welcoming remarks to be followed by the occasion’s highlight - the Dragon and Lion dance - to be performed by Grade 2 pupils.

Traditionally, the Dragon and Lion Dance are performed as a symbol of auspiciousness. It is also done to chase away negative energies and scare away evil spirits. After their performance, dancers are given red envelopes called “ang pao" that contain money. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off negative spirits.

After this, kinder pupils will entertain the crowd with a presentation. An inspirational message will then be delivered by the school director to be followed by a Chinese Word Olympic for book 4 and 5 levels respectively. Here, pupils and students will be given a set of words in English that they have to translate in Mandarin.

In an interview, the school director said that since DWAD is a Chinese school it is apt to hold this celebration to teach students about the Chinese culture. He added that China is a growing economy which has various influences in the world; because of this students should be exposed to various Chinese traditions like this one. (ANL/AMM-PIA 1 Pangasinan)